Does this sound family? Well, it kinda sounds like it is part of a good ole fashion children’s song that I learned when I was young. The only difference is that there’s nothing funny about this title. Some people think it’s just being sad or having the blues for a day or two, but I have to disagree. I’ve been putting up with it and trying to “handle” it for most of my life, and it is so much more . Sometimes I can fake it to make it for a short while, but since November and and even the beginning of this month it has been rough. I mean really bad.

The kind of depression that I’m talking about is the kind that totally takes over your life and sends your mind into the outer limits of the known universe. It makes you feel helpless. You don’t want to think. You don’t read books because they make your head hurt because of thinking too much. You try to get lost in TV shows and movies. You will do anything to take your mind off your life You don’t want to get out of bed to even go to the bathroom (but of course you have to). You want the whole world to just leave you alone and just go away. You have no energy to fight the world around you. You have lost interest in doing even the smallest things. You either sleep all the time or if you’re like me you hardly sleep at all. You curl up on the sofa if you make it out of the bed, and either eat all you can or hardly anything at all.. You go from one extreme to the other. Your emotions are all over the map. You feel totally our of control. You keep “falling” until you get to the bottom or want to commit suicide which is hitting the bottom with only one final outcome possible.

If you are really lucky, you have some friends that can tell when you are on the slippery slope of depression and will help pull you back from that edge. If not, here are some tricks to try before you hit the dirt bottom:

The first and foremost thing that you should do is get into a good therapy program with a good medication plan. This is the best way to break the depression cycle. I’m not saying that it will keep the depression away, but it will lower the number of times that you will have to combat the depression.

Changing your Physical activity and lifestyle. The more active you are the less depressed you will be. When you are inactive or not sleeping, your brain cells die, cognitive throughput slows down your brain creates false memories, you lose your filter to your brain, your right superior frontal cortex reduced in volume, and it doesn’t adequately regulate your feelings

Change your way of thinking. Most depressed people have negative thoughts most of the time. A lot of them come from abused or difficult lives. If you can learn to forgive and put behind your past, then you can change your thinking from negative to positive. Start by looking up positive thinking in the Bible. It will not be easy but if you start with just one verse at a time, before you know it you will be thinking more positively in no time.

Get in a routine. Depressed is the enemy to a meaningful life and days blend into each other. It strips away all the structure and framework in your life. You no longer want to go out with friends. In fact, you want nothing to do with anyone much less your friends. If you have a gentle routine that you can get back into, the depression will not be able to keep its hold on you.

Set goals. Depression sits heavy on your heart and you like nothing is going your way. You feel like you can’t accomplish anything. Of course, this does not help your self-image. By setting small “doable” goals that you can succeed at and you will start to feel better about yourself. As you start to feel better, upgrade the goals to challenging yourself.

Exercise. I know this doesn’t sound like something that anyone wants to do when you are depressed and to tell you truth it’s not. I’m not talking about going to the gym and work yourself out on heavyweights, but taking a walk about the apartment complex or block is not that much to ask. You will be surprised by the way that it will help you feel better.

Just by using one or two of these tricks can help you get out of the depression sooner. They have worked for me and I have 29 years experience dealing with Bipolar II-depression. It’s not easy, and I’m not telling you it is, but you can deal with it. My prayers go with you.

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mins, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Before you can transform your mind, you have to start every day to humble yourself before the Lord. To humble yourself, you have to first admit and then show your helplessness to follow God on your own, but willing to follow the teachings of Christ as well as acquire His character as your own. You labor in vain if you don’t receive inner power, all that is good, as well as love from God. You can’t love without receiving love from God. God is love and He gives His grace and love only to the humble.

James 4:6 NKJV

“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

‘ God resists the proud

But gives grace to humble’ “

God wants you to love and obey Him and also draw close to Him. When you do these things and keep yourselves open up to Him all the time, you can stand on and claim His love, power, and fulfillment.

When you start feeling like you are slipping far away God, you should drop down to your knees and start praying right then and there. First, you humble and then confess to God every sin that could be standing in your way to God. Search your Bible and then wait for the “golden nugget” that God wants you to learn from the “down time”. It might be greater empathy for others, more of God’s character, or even more of His love. Waiting for God/Holy Spirit’s unlimited potential and resurrection power living inside of you is the only way to endure the pain of this world and waiting for the “nugget” that God is wanting to give to you.

II Corinthians 10:5 NKJV

“casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”

Now that you are waiting on God, you have to take you ideas, thoughts, imaginations, dreams, and beliefs captive to the obedience of Christ. All your words, actions and emotions come from somewhere inside you. They come from your mind and heart and you can wake each and every morning with the assurance that you have the power to control how you feel, what you say, and how you act during the entire day and night with God’s help. It is a constant adventure and daily war because the closer you are to God the more Satan doesn’t like it. No one is a victim!

The above scriptures both talk about being still for God, but you are being still for two completely different reasons.

Exodus 14:14 talks about how the you don’t have to do the fighting because the Lord will do the fighting for you, all you have to do is be still. Stop fighting. Let the Lord do the fighting for you. Stand down. Lay down your arms. Back off. Take a vacation. STOP THE FIGHTING! BE STILL FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE AND LET GOD HANDLE IT!

Psalm 46:10 talks about being still in Spirit and getting to know the Spirit of God. It is about tuning the world out and letting God in. The only way that this can happen is by being still and letting yourself be quite. You have to be able to concentrate on one thing at a time and that would be God. CAN YOU BE STILL? SILENT? CAN YOU LET GOD IN?

Is it really such a foreign concept in today’s society to be still? To slow down? To stop and do nothing for a while? Even for a minute? Can you do one thing at a time? I know that it is hard for me to admit that it is hard for me to do just one thing at time, but I am getting better at it the more I try.

You should try doing one thing at a time some time. Try praying to God for 5 minutes without doing anything else one day. When your mind starts to wonder, bring it back to God. Keeping doing that over and over until your mind stops wondering. Pray to yourself or out loud. It doesn’t matter. Just spend time with your Heavenly Father only. It’s not as easy as it sounds in our fast pace world unless you put forth the effort to do it.

You know what’s great about putting forth the effort to be still, you let God do the fighting for you and you get to know who God is which will allow you to grow more than you ever thought you could in ways that you could never have dreamed of in a million years. Great things will follow you if you let God have the reins of your life because God is working a great work in you, and He will be working it until the day that Christ Jesus returns. Look it up for yourself. It’s written right there in the Bible in black and white and red. Jesus said it in RED so it MUST BE TRUE!!!!! Not only are Jesus’s words in Red but they are covered in his blood. You and I are covered in his blood. Let us all be still together and Let God do His thing!

My friend and I were watching TV and eating Dove candy one night when I came across the following quote in a Dove candy wrapper.

Difficult roads often lead to Beautiful destinations.”

Jetta L from Massachusetts

It really spoke to me because I have had a not so good life for the most part. I have gone through physical, sexual, emotional, mental, and verbal abuse as well as being homeless twice, raped three times, had an abortion because of a rape, Bipolar II, PTSD, Schizo-affective Disorder, trying to raise my kids as best as I could while being single after my last two divorces trying to take care of my mental issues and myself all at the same time – Unfortunately, the kids were the ones to suffer more than I did, living in a park, living in the streets, trying to hold down a job while dealing with almost suicidal depression, being on drugs (been cleaned since 24January1999) – Crystal Meth and Cocaine, (Not Crack,) and also moving from family member to family member because I was such a rebellious and hard to handle child. (It was not fun.) I would not listen to anyone, especially if you were a man. My granddad would say that I could only learn things through the University of Hard Knocks. At first I thought it was a real university , like Ole Miss, but then I learned the truth, meaning that I was hard headed and could only learn by doing and making the mistake myself. No one could just tell me about how to do or not to do something. I had to learn it on my own.

Being the red flag in the tug of war of hatred between my two families didn’t help me at all. You would think that I would be good at least on negotiation, but sadly no. I am just good at staying in the background and working behind the scenes. Now, I’m only in touch with a 2-4 members on both sides, but for the most part, I’m the black sheep and not to be associated with them at all. They don’t know how hard that is on me. Don’t get me wrong. I still love them and lift them up in prayer ever day, but I would like to talk to them and see what they’re up to every so often. I tried with one of my cousins a couple years ago, but it ended almost as soon as it began. I guess some of it is my part because I have not stayed in touch, but now I don’t know their numbers except one and I have tried It several times with no call back as of right now.

I am finally on good medication and in a good place. I am in therapy again, but this time I really like this person and the way that the sessions are going. I knot that this is not an over night process, but then again it didn’t happen all in one night. It took years for all the stuff to happen and affect me so I guess that it will take me a long time to get me free. I am facing my demons head-on now, and my difficulties are turning into beauty. I finally like myself and know that God loves me. I know that God is my Father and Jesus is my Lord and Savior. Jesus loves me so much that if He had to die again just for me, He would. I know that I am going to heaven, and I am trying to serve Jesus in this lifetime as well.

You know Jesus and God love you too. Jesus would climb back on that Cross and die again for you. Just for you! That says a lot. You are worth that much to Him. God is the Father of all Mankind. He is the Creator. He spoke everything into creation, not just some things! Jesus is His Son and part of the Godhead. His was a virgin birth. He taught for 3 years then died on the cross between two thieves. One was saved and went to heaven with Jesus and the other one didn’t. Jesus was raised from the dead three days later and after revealing himself to many people, He went up to Heaven and sits at the right hand of God.

Do you want to go to Heaven or do you want to be like the other thief and try to swim in the Lake of Fire?

This is a powerful Proverb. It says it all. Proverb 23:7 tells us in plain English that everything is tied into our thoughts and what we are thinking at this very moment. What are you thinking right now? Does it matter? I mean really matter in and to your life at this very moment? Does it? The answer is a resounding “YES!”

People don’t realize that what they think dictates everything else about them: mood, feelings, words, attitude, behavior, and even actions and therefore reactions. Your thoughts and therefore your imagination shapes your life. If you want to change any thing at all about you, you have to start with changing your thinking it first.

Let’s take the number one thing that almost everyone knows about or has tried at least once in their lives: Dieting. There are so many diets out there that it is hard to choose one. It is just crazy. You don’t know which one will work for you.

Of course, if you are anything like me you choose the one that will cause the least amount of change to your routine and food intake or eating habits and the easiest to do and if it fits into your budget. You pick a pill. Maybe it works for a while so you lose the weight you wanted to and you stop taking the pill. All of a sudden you start gain the weight right back. You go back on the diet again, but this time it doesn’t work. What do you do? You look for the Next Diet…

Again, you go for the one that offers little change or effort, but doesn’t work. You are not a gym person so what are you going to do. You can always jump on the diet bandwagon of those diets where you have to buy their food and never cook your own food again. Is that what you really want? Are you ready to face the truth? Now?

You need to change your thinking! Then you will lose weight. Start living healthy, and whole lives. Do some sort of exercise program. It does not have to be at a gym. It can be as simple as a yoga/video workout at home. Study and read the Bible about being healthy. It has a lot of things to say about and fill you thoughts with all those good thoughts. Pray and God will help fill you mind with good thoughts too.

I’ve not had a very good life, but it’s made me the woman I am today. I was (and still am to a point) a very angry woman. (God’s still working on me. Praise the Lord) I am now in my 50s and it has taken me until now to know that negativity will slowly kill you. It will eat you up from the inside. You can’t love if you are always negative. You will be miserable in your own little bit of hell and make everyone around you miserble too. There is no hope there either. There is only fear and despear. There is hate there too. Do you want that?

I don’t want that anymore, but I backslide sometimes and God corrects me sternly, but patiently. I am blessed with a housemate that is very humble, kind, caring, and forgiving of my faults. She has helped me more than she will ever know. She has taught me and most likely will teach me a lot more in the future. I just pray that I am such a good friend to her. At least I try to be.

Now Positive thinking is something to grab a hold of and not let go. If you start to fill you mind with Bible verses and positive quotes and thoughts which you share with all your friends, you will push all those negative thoughts out of your head then your mood, feeling, words, attitude, behavior, actions and even reactions will change in a more positive way. You just might start loving people and finding hope again. People will start to see the change in you, and start gravitating toward you instead of away. You will get a pep in your step and be a happier person all around.

Please forgive me. I was suppose to have this post up for you by last Friday, but sometimes life happens. I am on track with the study, but writing the blogs is where I’m behind. I am determined to get back on track in the coming weeks.

Meditate on God’s Word/ Be a Woman Worthy of Confidence

Scriptures of Week to Memorize

“A wife of noble character who can find?

She is worth far more than rubies.

Her husband has cull confidence in her

and lacks nothing of value.”

Proverbs 31: 10-11

Passage of Day to Read – Day 3

“How can a young [woman] Keep [her] way pure?

be living according to your word.

I seek you with all my heart;

do not let me stray from your commanded.

I have hidden your word in my heart

that I might not sin against you…

I meditate on your precepts

and consider your ways.

I delight in your decrees:

I will not neglect your word.”

Psalm 119:9-11, 15-16

Passage to Read – Day 4

“A wife of noble character who can find?

She is worth far more than rubies.

Her husband has full confidence in her

and lacks nothing of value.

She brings him good, not harm,

all the days of her life.”

Proverbs 31:10-12

Day 3

Do you think you can become a Lawyer of any worth by just casually reading the law books? Well, you can’t! You most likely would not even be able to pass the bar exam if you managed to graduate from law school. I am told that you to put in almost as much study time as class time if not more. The same is true when you are becoming a woman of God. You have to meditate and study and take it down deep into the fiber of our being what is the most important things to us and that is the Bible. We are going to be standing toe to toe with Satan’s onslaught of temptations, and we have to be able to have the Word of God readily on our lips.

Matthew 12:34

“Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.”

The above is why we meditate on the Word and store it in our hearts so that it can flow from our mouth when we need it.

Remember:

Satan is the Father is lies!

The only way to cut through his lies is God’s Honest Truth.

John 8:32 states,

Jesus says: “You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The Most Important thing you need to do is Memorizing the Scripture. The two main reason are as follows:

Helps keep our thoughts pure.

Less room for all other junk we usually have hanging around up there.

To help memorize and the only way to get Scripture into your heart mind and soul is by meditation. It has gotten such a bad rap now days . But we have to take it back. Meditation is a God thing first and foremost and a gift to us as His children. He meant it as a very .important tool to be used for our transformation, not by a new age gurus.

When you do your Meditation:

Take time to think about what you are memorizing.

Pray over the words even as you say them over and over again in your head.

Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you the meaning and application of each word.

Let His instruction begin to transform who you are and how you live.

Affirmation:

I meditate on God’s Word day by day.

Day 4

The Proverb 31 woman has the full confidence of her husband because she doesn’t bring him harm, but good all the days of her life. God is our spiritual husband. Each and everyone one of us:

“For your Creator will be your husband;

the LORD of Heaven’s Armies is His

He is your Redeemer,

the Holy One of Israel,

the God of all the earth.”

Has the thought ever crossed your mind about causing good and no harm to God? What does it mean to cause harm to God? What’s the first thing that comes to your mind that will cause harm to not just an earthly husband but also to God? Think hard…..How about good ole fashion jealousy! You know the kind…..where you pursuing other exculsive relationships.

Matthew 22:37-39 KJV

Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love they neighbour as thyself.”

This shows you how important God takes His exclusive relationship with you. He wants to know you inside and out. He also wants to be your one and only. He loves you totally and completely. He created you with loving kindness and care and He is there for you no matter what you have done. He knows everything about you and still loves and chose you to be His. He sent His Only Begotten Son to DIE for YOU and ONLY YOU so you can come back HOME to HIM.

Adultery means a person is pressuring other relationships and priorities more than God. He is your Spiritually Husband, and He will not take kindly to you having other relationships more important than Him. He wants to be first in your life.

Matthew 6:33

“Jesus said, ‘Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.”

When we get our priorities mixed up and take our eyes off God — we bring Him harm!

But in contrast, by living in full confidence of the Lord, we bring only good to God. A good wife is someone who does the right thing even when her husband isn’t watching who remains faithful and diligent no matter the circumstances. She is trustworthy`

The Bible tells us in Luke 12:2-3 that in no uncertain terms that those words spoken or deeds done in the dark or secret will come out into the light or shouted from the housetops at some point in time. This shows that there is no point in trying to hide your words or actions because God sees ALL. Everything will come out if not in your lifetime then on Judgement when you stand before God.

Be trustworthy in secret things so God can have full confidence that you will bring him good, not harm, all the days of your life.

Secret sins are the worst sins and the hardest to deal with, but be dealt with they must. These are also the sins that more than likely trip us up the most. and Hebrews 12:1 states that we should drop all sin but especially that which trips us up to run the race that the Lord has given us to run. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Just to drop every sin like shedding clothing and just run the race that God has given us. I wish I could do that as simply as it sounds, but secret sins mess me up every time.

When you are dealing with difficult areas of your walk with God, it helps to have at least one person whom you can go to and be completely open and honest. A person that will hold you accountable in that area. Someone that will love us enough to let us know when we are heading in the wrong direction. You need at one person in every area that you are having difficulty in. This person is very important in becoming the woman that God wants you to be.

Now you need to deal decisively with anything that might hold you back. Secret Sin. Repeating Sin. Unforgiveness. These are just some of the things that will hold you back. Can you think of others?

You have to be determined in this process. Set you feet firmly upon the path of discovery and change. Say with enormous energy that nothing will prevent or dissuade you from the long road ahead.

Place Your Full Confidence in God/ Commit Yourself to Time Alone with God

Scripture of Week to Memorize

“A Wife of Noble Character who can find?

She is worth far more than rubies.

Her Husband Has full confidence in her

and lacks nothing of value.”

Proverbs 31:10-11

Passage of Day to Read – Day 1

“For your Maker is your Husband —

the Lord Almighty is His name —

the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer:

he is called the God of all the earth.

The Lord will call you back

as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit —

a wife who married young,

only to be rejected” says your God.

Isaiah 54:5-6

Passage to Read – Day 2

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Simon and his companions went to look for , and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else — to the nearby villages — so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Mark 1:35-39

Day 1

Today the trait “noble” is harder to find more than ever before. Let’s define it first. It means dignified and gracious. In the Amplified Bible the word for noble is rendered “capable, intelligent, and virtuous.” Such a woman would definitely be hard to find in the world today. Are you such a woman? Am I? Not yet, but I am working on it. Work on it with me.

We are intelligent, dignified, virtuous, capable, gracious women who fill with full confidence in those whose around and in whom rely on us most no matter whom that shall be. People around cam have total confidence in us because our confidence rests in God and we live appropriately.

What’s the ultimate sign that someone loves you? It is that they would lay down their life for you. Well, God has shown his love for us. Jesus laid down his life to make sure that someday in the future each of us will be special guests at the ultimate wedding in heaven, when Jesus holds the celebration for the church as his eternal bride. (see Revelations 21)

Don’t focus on human feedback. Focus on your relationship with you Heavenly Husband and live to please Him. During God’s metamorphose of your life, You will become a even more beautiful bride and a woman of noble character that will in the end bring her praise from the people most important. It will not happen over night, but enjoy the inner satisfaction that come from becoming the woman God wants me to be.

Day 2

Prayer is your direct line to God and is so important that you should have a special place that is only yours and God’s. Let it be your Pray Closet ( oasis, corner, space, or just plan area) that is set aside just for your time with God.

Henri Nouwen said,

“Discipline is the human effort to the space in which

God can be generous and give us what we need. “

According to Proverbs 31 the husband is to have “full confidence” in his wife. “Confidence comes in a relationship from investing time in that relationship.” You have to communicate in that relationship. So that for God to have full confidence in you, you have to talk to Him and obey him.

“God wants us to stand out as woman who know we have something of value. If you want to have something valuable to offer the world, we must have something of value to offer.” The value we are talking about is more than material value. See this world puts dollars and cents on everything. They put it on human lives. Yes, it’s still legal in some countries. But I’m talking about investing your time in seeking and exploring heavenly treasures such as knowledge of Scripture, and the power to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit, spiritual insight, ability to carry the presence of God with us where go,

Do you want to be an inspiration to the people that you meet and to everyone around you and mean something to you? Yes, you do! The only way you can do that is by putting God first in your life and talking to Him first thing in the morning?

Bruce Wilkison said,

“I have yet to find a respected leader throughout history who had devotions at night.”

Morning talks with God set to tone for the day. If you talk to God first thing in the morning, God can also order your life. I ask Him what He wants me to do that day and He lets me know.

I have found that I have the worst days when I am rushed out the door and miss my time with God. It’s my own fault because I didn’t hear my alarm, but my day is just no good. Now on those I try to make time for God and then after that my day does seem to get better. I know how that sounds, but it is true!

Before you meet with husband, , before you face your family, before fix breakfast, before deal with the whole world, before you absolutely anything, start your day our right by having a meeting with God.

I challenge you to take the first 30 minutes or more every day for 2 weeks straight to talk to God. Then leave me a comment and let me know how you feel. I know that God have worked miracles in my life just because I spend time talking to Him.